To Know Him is to Love Him
by Shadoe Dysteria
Summary: Team/-Centric. A week after "Mayhem". M/G, H/P, RE/J. Morgan and Garcia are almost finally admitting there's something there. And they're working with it. Suckish Summary, but, great story. R&R. Not a songfic, I swear, but, close.
1. To Know, Know, Know Him

**To Know Him is To Love Him**

_**Chapter One: To Know, Know, Know Him..**__**.**_

_**How sweet it is to love, and to be dissolved, and as it were to bathe myself in thy love.** _

_- Thomas P. Kempis_

* * *

Penelope Garcia was not a stupid woman. Not only in the literal sense, though, as the FBI did watch her hacking skills constantly for a while, she was (intelligent, that is). However, Penelope Garcia _was_ intelligent. She knew things others didn't; She was sassy. She refused to back down. She noticed things.

But one.

Jennifer Jareau, or JJ as she was more affectionately called by her teammates, watched her two co-workers, Penelope Garcia and Derek Morgan, flirt shamelessly. Everyone seemed to know how they felt about each other except for themselves.

Correction. Everyone seemed to _accept_ how they felt about each other. Everyone except for them.

It was coming, though. She could feel a storm brewing, and, it was not going to be pretty. It had been a week since that car bomb had blown Hotch up, and, consequentially, a week since that ambulance bomb had nearly blown Derek up. There had been a tense time after that. Everyone was on their toes around Penelope, waiting for her to explode any minute. And she did; Just not in the way they had expected.

She had dragged Derek into her office during his lunch break, and, JJ had been told, made him sit. However, from what she had been able to con out of Reid, she had thrown a few things, punched him in the stomach a few times, and, cried on his shoulder, threating to cut his bits of with manicure scissors, if he ever tried to leave her like that again.

Something had definitely shifted in the room that day. No one really knew what, but, now it seemed as if they depended on each other more, as if something had happened in there to make them realize that they were all that they had.

Oh well.

Finally making herself known with the new case files in her hand, she alerted the team. "We've got a new one." She announced, smiling grimly at a groaning Morgan and Prentiss.

It was only a few minutes before everyone was back in the bull pen. They had just seen the footage. Apparently, they had a cop killer on their hands, and, a very organized on at that. He didn't seem afraid to take risk. In fact, he seemed to be taunting the police. Leaving a hair here, a finger print there, or, once, after he had taken out an officer (lacerating his knee joint), he left a finger nail. But, he seemed to do it methodically. Just one. Never anything more than an officer down and one bit of personal DNA to say he was ever there.

They hated it.

So, now, it seemed they were on their way to Chicago. Derek smiled; He would have to make time to see his mother, if Hotch would let him. He didn't want to see her under a case like this, but, he knew how much it would mean to him.

"What do we know about those who cut their victims?" SSA David Rossi asked, and, everyone turned to Spencer Reid, the brain child of the Behavioral Analysis Unit.

"Well, we know that those who use knives to... Lacerate their victims as he did have often suffered some traumatic event themselves, an event involving knives. Something throws me for a loop, though. It seems that while he used knives on one cop, he turned a gun to another, a wire from a wire hanger on his third, and, fire to his fourth." Reid said in one breath.

"Confused?" Emily Prentiss asked, looking around.

"Or perfecting." Derek amended. "He doesn't know _how_ he wants to get them, just yet. But he does seem to know _who_ he wants to get."

Aaron Hotchner looked around at his team. He didn't too much like the idea of taking them back out after what they had just had to deal with, but, it seemed he didn't have a choice. "Wheel's up in 30 minutes."

* * *

So... How did you like?

I forgot to put a disclaimer for the whole story up there, so, I"ll just put it down here: I DO NOT OWN CRIMINAL MINDS. THEY ARE PROPERTY OF CBS. I DO NOT OWN THE SONG "To Know Him is to Love Him". I AM UTILIZING THIS SONG, IN THE STYLE OF AMY WINEHOUSE, FOR MY STORY. I MAKE NO INTENTIONAL PROFIT OFF OF THIS FANFICTION.

**So...**

Did you like it? Should I continue?You should know now, the pairings are going to be M/G, H/P, RE/J. Rossi can have another wife, for all I care. It's going to be team centric, but, obviously, with space for my favorite characters. You WILL get to see their romance unfurl, I promise.

**muahmuah**

Shadoe Dysteria

**TBC**


	2. Is to Love, Love, Love Him

**Chapter Two: Is to Love, Love, Love Him...**

_"__Confession is always weakness, the grave soul keeps its own secrets and takes its in own punishment in silence.__"_  
~ Dorothy Adicks

* * *

Derek Morgan fell asleep on the plane. Derek Morgan. Fell Asleep. On the plane. How in the...

"Morgan!" Hotch barked, effectively waking the man up. Derek looked around, surprised to find himself having to be woken up. JJ, Reid, Prentiss, even Rossi, had fallen asleep on the plane before. The last person he expected to fall asleep was himself. Or at least Hotch.

"Mhm...?" Morgan mumbled, looking into the amused faces of his colleagues. "Wha' happened?"

"You fell asleep." Emily said simply, laughing. "THE Derek Morgan fell asleep. And on the way there!"

Derek scowled. It was obvious she was going to have too much fun with this. He couldn't really blame her; It's not as if he could blame her. After all... How many times had he teased her before? "Moving on..." He mumbled, picking up the cases. "What was found?"

"Well, _we_, discovered that it is certainly one person." JJ said, smiling in his direction to know that the joke was one made out of friendly passion.

"How do you know?" Morgan asked, fully alert.

"Well, the DNA on the finger nail and print match, and, with that, we were able to connect the hairs." Rossi explained, still smirking. After all the "old man" jokes, it seemed that the kid had fallen asleep himself.

"I thought-" Derek's suspicious question was interrupted by the beeping of Hotch's computer.

"Hello, hello, hello, my little crime fighters!" Came the chipper greeting of Penelope Garcia when the computer had completely clicked her over. "Boss Man, between you and me, we need faster computers. I mean, honestly, 6.8 seconds to connect over? That's so slow!"

Hotch resisted a smile at his tech analyst antics. "You have new information for us, Garcia?"

"Oh! Right!" She blushed, twirling her blond hair around the fuzzy troll pen she was holding in her hand. "It seems that the DNA from these crime scenes also match those of seven other suicide by cop cases over the last five years."

"Suicide by cop?" Emily asked, puzzled.

"Yeah." Garcia rushed on, rambling as she typed a few things into her surrounding babies. They team watched her zoom around as she delivered information. "The thing was, though it was an obvious cop shoot out, Chicago PD could never find the bodies of the people-slash-person that was doing the shooting, so, they assumed gang involvement, and, chalked it up to suicide by cop, minus the suicide."

Morgan frowned. "Why... My guys... What sense does that make?"

Garcia stopped in front of the screen. "None. See, I'm just finding out about this now, because, the former Chief of Police, you know, Heading? Well, he retired about three years ago after the first four shootings had been chalked up to suicide by cop. Well, now that this is happening, he's under fire for misjudgment, and, well, the media is having a field day."

JJ frowned. Just what they needed. An un-profiled serial with the attention of the media being split between himself and a retired cop. They didn't know if he was a narcissist who would be pissed at the attention being off of him, or, a frightened punk who'd go on a frenzy at so much attention being focused on him. "Garcie, could you get the-"

"Already done, my little lovebug!" Garcia smiled brightly. "I've contacted the station doing the story. They've agreed to stop broadcasting immediately, and, I've alerted the newspapers that you would be contacting them."

JJ's frowned deepened. "They just agreed?"

Garcia smiled sheepishly. "Two words."

JJ smiled, remembering a recent incident in which someone didn't want to give up information. "Court Order."

"Exactly."

"Thank you, Garcia." Reid said, already viewing the case folders with the new information. "How did they know to connect those murders?"

"Well, see, here's the thing," She mumbled, pulling the information up on her computer. "It seems that they received a tip from their hotline. I've already checked; It was a disposable cell phone, that was, coincidentally, found in a garbage can. Now, witnesses reported seeing a large, tan-ish person with brown hair dumping it, but, that witness also died of a brain ulcer last year."

"So, he's confident." Rossi muttered.

"Confident enough to be able to call into a police hotline and help them connect his murders." Hotch confirmed. "Garcia, would you please pull up everything on the officers previously killed and those we were called for? Could you try and make a connection?"

"Sure thing Boss Man," She assured him. "I just have one question."

"Yes?" Derek asked, looking up from his own case file.

"What makes you so sure it's a man? I mean, large and tan-ish, yeah, but, the witness said person; Not man." With that she clicked over, leaving the team wide-eyed. They'd just realized they had done one of the worst things they could have done:

They had personalized the victim without any proof. And, things like that... They had ruined investigations before.

* * *

**So... Did you like it?**

My crappy grammar skills and I are looking for a BETA, so, if you don't mind randomly getting e-mails, on unfinished stories, and dealing with my Texan timing, I'd love to have you help me.

As you can see, I'm working on developing the crime itself, so, there's not too much character interaction, but, if you'd like give me some ideas, that would be wonderful.

**muahmuah**

Shadoe Dysteria

**TBC**


	3. Just to See That Smile

**Chapter Three: Just to See That Smile...**

_"__Remembrance of things past is not necessarily the remembrance of things as they were."_

**-Abraham Lincoln**

**

* * *

**

Garcia whizzed around on her computer, back at the base in Quantico, Virgina. The sick things this bastard did... It seemed that while he, or she, she reminded herself, did experiment with guns, knives, wire, rope, fire and physical beatings, he-slash-she seemed to like fire, as, that had been the nly torture repeated, and, it had been done again on the latest victim.

While the Chicago PD had chalked it up to suicide by cop, they had not been able to not recored the signs of torture on the bodies. Though the bodies of the cops had bled out, limbs had been removed, tied up, and, in the cases of rope, a cop had been shot in the lower stomach and then strangled to death.

Nothing added up.

Of course, it took some major digging on her part to even find that much out. No one, it seemed, really wanted the public to know that there was a maniac out there torturing police bodies after they had died, or, torturing the bodies to death.

Hm... They had good reason.

What alluded her was why this monster was leaving the DNA. She knew that she should at least leave that part to the actual profilers, but, it was agitating her. As if she had the answer right in front of-

Of course!

How could she have been so stupid?

She pulled up the voice recording of the tip to the hotline and smiled. It was a female voice. She had used one of those cheap, toy, voice manipulators. The kind that make your voice sound like an alien, or, old man. But, she could definitely detect a feminine under tone as she pulled all of the maskings away from the voice as best as she could.

There was another problem she had. It seemed that the woman that had dialed had perfect knowledge of police proto-call. She used all of the correct police lingo, and, not that crap found off of TV. She used real police terms that she had heard from Derek's mouth himself, nothing made up or anything.

She dialed Derek right away, not even thinking about it, but, blushing a bit as she did. Why did he seem to always be the one she went to with things like this?

"Hey Gorgeous, you're on speaker, so behave," He warned with a smile. She could hear it through the phone, and, practically see others in the room, those not used to the banter, send questioning looks to each other.

"Who else is in the room?" She asked, prompt and to business. The others knew she had found something, and, whatever it was, it sounded like they had a cop killers on the force.

"Just the other superior officers. It's a pre-meeting." Hotch explained, hesitantly. If Garcia was being this careful, there was a possibility of the UnSub themselves being in that very room, and, they didn't need to take any chances.

"JJ?" Garcia asked questioningly. "Take the phone."

The other officers threw even more suspicious looks to each other. What was it that they couldn't know that the mysterious voice on the phone had to tell them.

"Yes?" JJ asked carefully, being sure to turn the phone off of speaker and keep her voice even. "You needed something, Garcie?"

Garcia smiled at the nickname. That was her Jayje, always looking out for her. Making sure no serial killers would be able to track her. "How many women are in the room?"

JJ looked around, avoiding the questioning looks from her teammates. "Seven," she replied, simply, not lifting her head to count them directly, for fear of tipping them off.

"Is the room bugged?" Garcia asked primly, waiting for her computer to pull up information. 5 seconds was too long to wait for something like this.

JJ shook her head. "Reid." She said simply, knowing her friend would understand that Reid himself had checked before they had started the meeting.

"I need them out." Garcia said simply, not explaining, though, her friend could hear high-pitched noises being retracted as her friend typed away on her computer.

"Excuse me?" She asked, once again gaining the complete attention of everyone in the room. "You need what?"

"Out. Everyone that is not B.A.U. I need them out of that room, pronto." Garcia rushed on, not stopping to take a breath.

"OK... Give me a minute." JJ took a breath and looked around the room, before signaling Hotch. She had no idea how to do this without alerting someone. "She needs everyone not B.A.U. out of the room."

Hotch nodded. He sure hoped whatever Garcia had to tell them would be important enough for them to have to do this. "I need everyone out."

"Excuse me?" Captin Jessica Stanton asked. Her ruby red lips contrasted greatly from her pale complexion and midnight dark hair. She demanded knowledge from her position beside Derek Morgan, who, quite frankly, looked uncomfortable with her proximity. "Out?"

"If you are not on our squad, we need you out." JJ reiterated, hoping that what she was saying was OK. "We've skipped a very important proto-call procedure, and, we need to assess everything and make sure that we're not down here for no reason."

"No reason?" Larry DelRosso demanded from his spot behind the door. He was the Captain of the Bomb Squad, Derek Morgan's old team. "My fellow men are dying out there. And you're here for no reason?"

JJ put on her best press face while Emily quickly assessed the situation, positioning herself in the line of Hotch in case anything got out of hand. "It's proto-call. We are not saying we believe this case to be worth nothing; However, we've got rules to follow just as you do."

"And, the last time I checked, us being down here was contributed to the fact that one of your own neglected to follow his own rules." Rossi butted in. He was tired of DelRosso's macho-man bullcrap. He had been pulling it since the B.A.U. had arrived.

DelRosso took a threateningly uneven step in Rossi's direction, before Reid spoke up. "I really don't suggest that. While you've got youth and agility on your side, he's got experience and a direct line to your gun on his. Not to mention a higher authority."

DelRosso ignored "the kid" and turned to Derek, looking for support, forgetting for a moment that the man didn't work for Chicago anymore, but, instead, for the F.B.I. When he realized he would be getting no where, he stormed out of the room, stealing all of the other officers along with him.

Finally the room cleared out, and, Garcia could be heard asking if everyone was gone.

"Yeah, Baby Girl, everyone's gone. But, I pray that with the performance we just got, this was worth it." Derek replied, leaning back in his chair, glancing at the door, making sure no one was listening in.

"It is. See, I reviewed the tape, and, I found out that the person you're looking for, the person that made the call, is a woman." Garcia replied, breathless. She had just been running around, making sure that he theory had no flaws or room for loopholes.

"That's it?" Rossi asked, a bit disappointed. Surely...

"No, no, my little fuzzy muffin," Garcia chastised him, and, he mouth 'fuzzy muffin?' to an smiling Prentiss. "Give me a moment to unveil my genius. See, the problem is, while it was a woman, she knows what she's doing. She's not a civilian."

"How do you know?" Morgan questioned, and, due to his expertise, Hotch had no problem with handing the questioning over to him.

"See, you know that PD stuff you're always using? That lingo? She laced that through the conversation. And, the way she described the murders. Detail, but, not too much, typical of an involved bystander but not a murderer... It was too real for her not to be on the force. That's why I had you kick everyone out. I was afraid she would be in the room."

"OK... But, we have a problem." Emily replied, mulling everything over. "You saw what happened to the officer with the physical beatings. Those weren't made by a woman, and, they weren't made by an object."

"See, that's where I have a theory." Garcia replied, quickly. "I've sent the recording to your e-mails, not the one with the stripped voice, but, she had a partner. I can distinctly hear a man's voice in a background. And a crying baby."

"Oh..." JJ looked around. "This isn't going to be good."

"And, Boss Man?" Garcia asked Hotch. He could feel his phone warming with whatever update Garcia had just sent him.

"Yes?"

"I found our connection." Her grin was triumphant through the phone, and, they could all feel it.

* * *

**Do you like?**

I worked on this one for probably five minutes, and, I've got to get it out before I loose my nerve. I've finally been able to tie all of my craziness in the crime together, and, I really don't want to loose this plot. Remember, if there's anything you'd like to see, let me know. I have yet to start working on chapter four, yet, I know what I'd like my connection to be. However, if you have a better idea, review before late tomorrow (I'm CST USA time), and, I'll see how I like it.

***muahmuah***

Shadoe Dysteria

**TBC**


	4. Oh, It Makes My Life Worthwhile

**Chapter Four: Oh, It Makes My Life Worthwhile...**

_"One need not be a chamber to be haunted, one need not to be a house. The brain has corridors surpassing material place."_

- Emily Dickinson

* * *

**(By the way, a special thanks to: Kimd33 for pointing out the inevitable. Seriously, it's not sarcasm. I wasn't going to work on this until tomorrow, but, what you said does need to be addressed. So, seriously, thank you.)**

**

* * *

**

David Rossi knew there was going to be in trouble as soon as his team opened the door again. Garcia had revealed the connection: It seemed that all of those police officers had the same tattoo artist couples. However, it was said that the couple had died later on in a gang shot out. Them and their 2 month old son.

No one on the team believe it for a second. The hard thing, however, would be proving it. Well, that and the fact that they had, in fact, just insulted the police. They had to, of course, clue the chief and director in on the fact that they had done what they had done because they had gotten a lead, but, even then, that's all they could tell them, and, they had to make sure that it didn't get back to the officers.

Goodness, how they hated politics.

Only the chief and director came in, and, they did not look happy. Pissed would be more like it.

"Would anyone like to explain why I'm having to deal with about fifteen petulant agents right now?" The director, one Ms. Rachel Delve, demanded. "It's bad enough being told that your whole department isn't good enough to deal with something like this; I don't need them shitting fits over it either!"

Hotch was slightly surprised at her language, but, happy they were dealing with someone who wouldn't pull any punches. "It seems that we had a lead."

"A lead that my men couldn't hear?" Chief Harris asked, a bit affronted himself. He was like the giant, gentle giant. Slow to anger, quick to cool and the first to forgive. The team could already tell that it took quite a bit to upset him, and, this little bit wasn't going to work well for anyone.

"Sir, we believe that someone from your team could be doing this." Derek was blunt, much to the disapproval of Hotch, who hadn't even completely decided on telling them. "And we're trying to make sure they they don't go into a frenzy and take out anyone else just because they think we're onto them."

"Then why are you telling us?" Delve asked, suspiciously. "Aren't you worried we could be the suspect?"

Reid shook his head. "You have no children, it's already been checked. You've never had any, and, so, that rules you out. Also, Chief Harris has been in the force too long to be a suspect. It had been proven that the more responsibility you have, and, the longer you have worked, the more dedicated you are to what you do. I would say that thirty years makes him pretty dedicated."

Chief Harris was obviously impressed. He didn't honestly remember he or Rachel saying any of the things the kid had just said, but, it was all true. He could never imagine doing anything like this, and, once he for the bastard that was, he'd been in for a world of pain. "So, it's a female?"

"Well..." Emily trailed off. "We'd like to not give you all of that information right now."

"Say no more," Delve shook her head. I'm wise enough to know when ignorance is bliss, and, this is definitely one of those times. I'll just be leaving you. Come on Harris, I'm pretty sure you've got a bomb squad leader to straighten out."

They both departed, much to the relief of the team. They knew they would have the actual officers to deal with, but, they could deal with that when they got to it. At least now they knew they were OK with the heads of their departments.

* * *

**Yes, yes, it was a filler chapter. Like I said, it needed to be fixed, and, I couldn't go to bed leaving the story like that. Now, I'm going to tell you guys I'm going t be while I'm actually scowering (sp?) the site for some awesome fics to fill myself on.**

**muahmuah**

Shadoe Dysteria

**TBC**


	5. To Know Him 2

**Chapter Five: To Know Him... (2)**

_"Plenty sit still. Hunger is a wanderer."_

_**- **_Zulu Proverb

* * *

Derek Morgan swiped an angry hand across his face. His little spitfire wasn't working half as fast as she used to, or, as they needed her to. True, she _had _found the connection, and, she _did_ have the right idea. But she was taking to long.

Spencer Reid, on the other hand, knew exactly what was taking Penelope Garcia so long. In fact, it seemed that everyone else but Derek Morgan had known, and, that was only because she knew he was going to be the overprotective brute that didn't want her anywhere other than Quantico where she was most definitely was not going to stay.

"Damn it..." Derek growled, his dark mood only lifting a big when his laptop dinged, signaling Penelope's return to the screen.

"You know," Reid started, his smile large. "The request is not so unusual. In fact, I'm surprised-"

"How would you feel if it was JJ?" Morgan as roughly as the pixels on his computer sorted out Penelope's face. The blow was low, he knew. JJ and Reid didn't really think anyone knew about what was happening between, and, it had become an unspoken rule that it was not to be mentioned in the bureau... Period.

Reid's eyes, however, hardened. "Well it's not."

"Exactly."

Confused as to where the conversation had taken a turn for the worse, Reid mentally re-talked the conversation, relieved when the computer beeped with a full connection, Penelope's full pale face filling the screen. "Handsome, stop your moping. Mama's got some good news."

Derek shook his head. "Good for who, sweetness?"

Penelope smiled brightly. "Good for whoever who can get me down there the fastest."

Derek growled; She had been making this same joke for the last two days. The wanting to come down the Chicago. As if he would allow it. There wasn't a snowballs chance in Heaven, and, that's why she could sit and make that joke. "We don't have time for this. In case you haven't noticed, a whole police department has just been pissed off-"

"And in case you didn't notice, Derek Morgan," Penelope cut him off, focusing more on the screen to her left, or, his left and her right, then she was on him. That should have been his first clue; She could never look him in the face while carrying on an intentional lie. "I did it because it was best for the team. Keep it up and I'll wipe you off the grid, another thing that I think would be best for the team."

Derek sighed again. Why did it seem that every time he did that, it was behind the fiery woman on the screen in front of him? "Look Baby Girl..."

"Choose your words wisely, Morgan," Penelope warned, the threat still evident in her voice. They may be the last _you_ ever say."

Glaring at a chuckling Reid, Derek nonetheless re-worded his message. "OK, Baby Girl, you win. But, if you've got anything, you've got to tell us."

"No I don't!" And with a quick raspberry blown at Derek, she clicked off of the screen.

Derek shook his head. He knew that to do something like that, she would have needed to already have Hotch's authorization, and, he was sure she did , but, it didn't help matters that he wasn't knowing what she had found out. "I know she didn't just..."

"Oh yes I did, my little love muffin." He heard a familiar voice state from behind him. "Now, scoot your booch and follow me. We can discuss this in a few."

He was too surprised at her appearance to really say or do anything of consequence, but, he knew one thing:

She was not supposed to be here.

* * *

Penelope could feel his eyes on her. She had known she was taking a huge risk in coming in the first place, let alone announcing herself like that without giving him any chance for rebutting. It was just herself, Derek and the rest of the team, minus JJ who was on a donut run, in the room now. The team had just finished briefing the cleared police officers on what they had found, and, now, they were going about a way of actually profiling the UnSub.

"What do we know about those who strangle?" Hotch asked the room at large, though, mostly channeling the question towards Reid, the teams statistics specialist.

"We know..." Reid began. "That most are white males."

"True," Emily nodded. "But this is a woman... Shouldn't we be asking what we know about women?"

Rossi shook his head. "It won't work like that. She may be a she, but, it's the murders she's committing, not her gender, that'll tie her together."

Hotch shook his own head in turn. "I'm not so sure. The way she's inflicting pain... Maybe it's in the way the victims were... Killed. Staged. Maybe it's solely in her victimology."

"We know who she killed," Rossi spoke. He sniffed gently as Derek lifted his feet off of the table to get a better look at the roving Penelope, almost knocking off his precious coffee in the process. "Cops. We know how she posed them. Fetal position. We know what she took. Their badges."

"So, it's fairly obvious to say she has a vendetta against the law?" JJ asked, entering the room with a box of Krispy Kremes. "I mean it sounds like she's stripping them of their honor or something."

Penelope nodded. She wasn't usually supposed to speak during these things. In fact, this was the very first one she had ever sat in on. However, she had noticed something. "Uhm... Boss Man?"

"Yes?" Hotch asked, no one missing the ease in which he responded to her questioning voice. It was almost as if she'd belonged there.

"Is it just me, or, is anyone else noticing her gender pattern?" She asked tentatively, grabbing a cinnamon donut hole and popping it in her mouth. She spoke delicately around the food crowding her 'talking hole'. "She's never done females before."

Reid sat up in the chair, looking over the case files. He looked over to Penelope; It wasn't like him to miss this. He didn't miss it, rather than he didn't mention it. However... "You're right." He murmurer-ed.

"So... What? She feels a kinship with female cops?" Emily asked, following Penelope's sugary example.

"Hey... Guys, look at this..." Derek spoke up from his corner of the table with Rossi. He held up a folder with a picture in it, and, their eyes widened.

"No friggen' way..." Penelope murmured to herself.

* * *

So, did you like the little glimpse? Hrm...? I like how I was able to put a bit more of the romance in there. Yes, yes, it was another filler chapter, but, I need to know what you guys would like to see. I mean, you already know the pairings. The question is:

Where should I go with them?

****muahmuah****

Shadoe Dysteria

**TBC**


	6. To Love Him 2

**Chapter Six: To Love Him (2)**

"_All is a riddle, and, the key to another riddle... Is a riddle." _

**- Ralph Waldo Emerson**

* * *

This was not going to be good. This was not going to be good. We're going to get our asses kicked. This is not going to be good. They are not going to believe us.

It was the only thing that could run through Garcia's head as she looked at the new evidence she had found. She couldn't believe what she was looking at, it was certainly bizarre... It wasn't like she hadn't seen worse, but...

"Are you sure this is _her_?" JJ asked, a hint of disgust in her voice. It wasn't that they two people she was looking at weren't who they were supposed to be, it was that they looked so realistically like what they were trying to become.

"Are you sure it's _not_?" Emily asked, tilting her head slightly, trying to see the connection.

"This is what came up," Garcia defended her latest find. "And, from the two pictures, it looks like they-"

"Switched identities and genders?" Hotch asked, taking the pictures from Derek and looking at them closely, inspecting them and trying to find similarities in the before and after pictures. He was finding them, though, they were few and far between.

This was surely becoming the most interesting case the team had ever had to face Transgender murderers?

JJ silently backed into Reid, who was behind her, and had casually draped one arm on her shoulder with him head on the other one. Hotch looked over at them, wanting to say something about their close proximity, but, as he looked at Emily, who he had decidedly inched closer to, he couldn't find it in himself to say anything. Also, to anyone looking in, it would look like Reid was just trying to lean closer to get a better look at the picture they were all crowded around. After all, everyone they had worked with here ad been able to surmise that they were pretty close.

The picture was not a grotesque one, he decided, glancing another loo at it from the spot he had thrown it on the table in front of him. It wasn't as if there was anything vulgar about transgenders or as if he had a prejudice against them. The thing that disgusted them the most was how easily they were able to mimic the looks of each other – And it disgusted them because bad things happened when unsubs were able to mask their identities or were very good at switching them.

Very, very bad things happened.

* * *

**So... I won't say I'm bad for good, but, I just got another computer for Christmas (or, rather, I got my own laptop), and, I am now able to freely write and post these stories, and, I thought that I way as well just finish them.**

** Yes, this chapter is short, but, it's supposed to be that way. This is really just a way to tie up the horrible mistake I made in the last chapter. In the next chapter there will be more detail, I promise, but, this one is just to tide you over and let you see I'm back.**

**But, I SWEAR I am working on the next chapter as we speak. Just like it was with CLA, I'm on break right now, so, I'll be able to work more. But, come Monday, I take my butt back to school, so, I don't know how much will get done then. However, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.**

** So, I hope you enjoy. **


	7. And I Do

**Chapter Seven: And I Do...**

"_The irrationality of a thing is not an argument against its existence, rather, a condition of it."_

**- Friedrich Nietzsche**

* * *

"So," Morgan broke the silence after the group had been standing there for almost a good five minutes, just looking at the picture and silently making their own deductions. "What, exactly, are we supposed to do with this?"

Garcia spoke first, her face pinched into a grimace, obviously having not thought that past her victory. "Well, this picture dates to a full two years ago, so..."

Everyone groaned, but, then, Rossi spoke. "Well, think about it. They did the initial change a full two years ago, and, the killings just now recently started. They changed early on so that they could build themselves a life, so that they wouldn't cast any suspicion."

"And, then, when they felt they had built themselves a stable life, they started killing. And, since they had changed identities, they had never thought they would be caught." Reid finished for him, JJ smiling brightly up at him.

"My question is, how did these pictures even surface?" Morgan asked. It seemed like they had wanted to stay as far under the radar as possible, but, there were pictures of them in their database.

"They had to get the pictures taken when they applied for a tattoo license, you know how it is in California," Garcia said, as if everyone did, in fact, _know. _"So, that's how those pictures got there."

Emily shook her head. "This isn't adding up, you guys." She stated, a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked, still analyzing the pictures, looking for anything that could be used to profile the two.

"Whose child is that?" She asked. "Garcia said no records were found of their two month old son, so, one would be able to naturally deduce that the child in the background was theirs. However, if this picture dates two years back, which would be about six months before their 'death', it would make that child almost three-years-old. And, if Garcie said it was a baby she heard in the background..."

"Damn," Rossi sighed, running a callused hand over his aging face. Emily was right, of course, and, this just made things a hell of a lot worse.

"So, now, we're dealing with a psychopathic kidnapping maniac?" Garcia asked.

"Who says they kidnapped the child?" Morgan rebutted.

"Oh, that's right," Garcia said, pulling out a file from the pink tote bag that Derek had pulled the first file out of. "Sorry, I forgot to mention, but, her reports show that the first child, which they named Taelor, was actually adopted, because, as shown by her medical reports, she was barren."

She handed them the complicated looking reports as if anyone but Reid could read them, but, they nodded. "So, we _are _dealing with a psychopathic kidnapping murdering maniac?" Morgan confirmed.

"It looks like we are," JJ murmured her consent. "However, at least we've discovered one thing. Earlier, we couldn't figure out how a woman was causing this much damage. There weren't any objects involved or anything, and, it was brute force. It's because it _was _a woman, only, the woman had once been a man."

"But, that doesn't make any sense," Reid shook his head. He had long since moved his head from her shoulder, yet, was standing behind her with his arms crossed. "These attacks were personal. That would mean that he would have to adopted her identity and mindset when they switched genders. Does this mean they virtually became each other?"

"That's what it looks like," Rossi nodded. "However, wouldn't such a complete transformation involve hormones? That could have aided. In his adopting her... Being, basically."

Emily nodded. "It's obvious that she had a mastectomy and he had breasts implants." She pointed towards the spots in the partial head-shots in which her chest caved slightly where her breasts would have began and his grew.

"Why do I have the feeling this is going to turn out bad?" Morgan asked. No one could answer.

* * *

**So, obviously, this one was a bit longer. I really just wanted to be able to get in a few explanations and just explain things a few more. Especially since I've been screwing up so badly in some of the last chapters. Am I forgiven?**

**The next chapter will be posted tomorrow seeing as how I'm about to go through all of my active stories and do some much-needed editing and revising. My grammar is horrible and I'm to the point to where I can stop complaining about the lack of help and help myself.**

**See you tomorrow!**


	8. In the Mind of a Murderer

**In The Mind of a Murderer...**

* * *

"Kevin, shut up!" I screamed at the small child in the bungalow before me. I knew it wasn't his fault he was crying, Michael had yet to return from the store with the formula, but, I couldn't register it. I knew he was hungry.

But, I also knew he was crying. And needed to shut the hell up.

With that, his crying only grew louder. Damn. I knew what this meant. And, it was a shame. He was the sixth baby we had this month, what with Michael getting more and more demanding about the obedience of the children. Sometimes, I didn't agree with him. Sometimes, some part of me registered they were only mere babies.

And the, other times like this, a part of me registered that no matter what I did, it just refused to _shut the fuck up. _Shit. Damn. Fuck. I pulled the gun from out under the bungalow. Of course, that only made the bitch cry louder.

You see, Michael had an idea of instilling the fear of the gun into the children. Shoot animals in front of them, or other people, depending on which was easier to get, and, make them scared of the gun and what it could do. Normally it worked with the little fuckers, it would make them shut the hell up whenever they saw it.

But, not this one. No, this one only got louder, and louder and _louder. _I pulled the trigger. Sometimes, when I did that, it made them shut up, or, at least get to whimpering. It only made this one louder.

As I took a few steps back and pointed the pistol and the things head (you see, when they're about to be shot, they are no longer allowed to have names), I could only sigh and shrug. I really hated doing this. Killing them and all. But, it was either their life of my head hurting. And I honestly valued my head more.

_BANG!_

Well, that shut the bitch up. Too bad, too. That meant I'd have to call Michael on his way back from the store, and, I could bet he wouldn't be too proud with the idea of me offing another one. He'd probably bitch about the risk of having to go out and find another one; the hassle and all of that.

He would be lying, of course. I knew how he liked to rape the mothers of the babies he stole. He never killed them; said he only liked to do that when I was there, and, I believed them. He could do whatever he wanted with the little whores, as long as I got the children, and, that's the way I saw it.

After all, the little bitches didn't deserve the kids. Apparently our case is drawing attention. I wonder if anyone even realizes that after we kill the officers, their children are placed into foster care and we take those children. Probably not, those retarded ass broads wouldn't be able to notice anything unless it came and hit them in the face with a nine-inch cock.

Stupid ass whores.

Well, it was time to call Michael. He'd be in a right fit if he came home and there was nothing to give the milk to. I picked up the phone and dialed, all the while smiling.

The need of another child meant the need of another dead officer. And, after the way those stupid sluts treated me, I certainly wouldn't mind. "Hey, Mike..."

* * *

**SO, how did you like it? I would like to apologize in advance for all of the curse words and mean slurs. I tried to stay away from anything too derogatory/offensive/racist, and, please note that I am female myself, so, don't... I don't know. I want to say don't take too much offense to it, but, that's kinda impossible, no?**

** Anyway, just keep in mind that this is a story and that I'm trying to encompass the minds of the murders.**

** Also, tell me if you appreciate the little glimpse into their minds and into their sick little world. I know on CM that's how they do it and I figured why not. Drop me a line and let me know!**


	9. I'll Be Good to Him

**Chapter Eight: I'll Be Good to Him**

* * *

_"With foxes, we must play the fox."_

__**- Thomas Fuller**

* * *

"What do you have?" Rossi asked Garcia, walking up to stand behind her as she sat at her laptop. She had managed to find a small room in the department that was much like her own little bunker and was taking advantage of the small, dark space.

A full day had passed and the team had not even tried to touch the subject of trying to amend themselves with the officers that they had offended. They obviously had better things to do and they had just hoped that things would even themselves out. If not... Well, it wouldn't be the first time they had solved a crime and still left generally un-liked.

Meanwhile, however, after the discovery had been made about about their physical operations, and about the children, Garcia had been working trying to find a connection. There was a surprisingly large number of transgender tattoo artist in California, however, she couldn't locate the database that held their corresponding pictures and information. Or, rather, she couldn't locate _them _in the database.

It was difficult because, in the beginning, they had names, though, they were very common names. She had tried to search for them under the same names, but, even that was coming up blank, though, she had doubted that it would even be the same. This was an ex-cop they were dealing with, it wasn't going to be the same thing.

Well, she _assumed _it was an _ex_-cop. It helped her sanity.

"Well," Garcia mumbled, trying to speak around the pen she was gnawing on. "It seems that... Oh!"

Rossi looked down, suddenly interested in whatever it was on the screen that had prompted that exclamation. He still couldn't understand anything on the screen, though, my the stunned look on her face and the small 'o' shape of her mouth, it was obvious that she did. "Explain."

"Well, sir," Garcia pushed a few more buttons and the complicated scheme of diagrams, reports and maps on her computer screen all merged into one, creating a nice 't' screen on her laptop screen. "OK, you see this side? Now, this side is the officers that were killed. This side? This is their children."

Rossi, still unsure where her discovery was going, only nodded his head in encouragement to continue as she pushed a few more buttons and pulled up various reports along side the 't'-chart. "Now, these reports are all of missing children. These are all children of the officers."

She was painting him a better picture. "So, what are you saying?" He asked, leaning in over her chair to get a better idea.

"Now, look," She pointed to an image of a small child she had pulled up, along with his information and his mother, the now-dead officer. "Sir, this is the son of the last victim, Barbara Towns. Now, if you look, Christopher, Christopher Kevin Towns, went missing about two days after his mother was killed. It was a day after he was injected into the system, yet, the same day we got that tip on the hotline. I believe this was the baby I heard in the background."

Rossi shook his head. "Yeah, Garcia, that may be a connection, but, is that all you have?"

She shook her head. "Sir! Look at all of the time lines of these abductions! They all follow the same routine, the day after the child is put into the system but the same day the body is found or someone is able to tell the police where the body is. I wouldn't have said anything had I not believed this to be the pattern."

Rossi nodded. "OK, I see it. But, what does it do for us?"

"Well," Garcia pushed her glasses further up her face with her index finger. "It tells us where they got the children from. It tells us who the children are, and, it tells us that there's more here than just hatred for officers. This runs deeper."

He nodded once more, noticing that he seemed to be doing that often when it came to talking to her. "You're right."

"I also believe it may tell us where there location is," She rambled on, pulling up a map, well aware that she was possibly going too far ahead of where they actually were. "These are the areas the bodies were found, these were the areas the police were lead to so they could capture the crime scene and these are the areas the children were taken from."

Rossi couldn't believe what he was seeing. The continuous points all seemed to make three different, discrete, rather large triangles. "So, that means he's either right in the middle, or-"

"Nowhere near." Garcia interrupted Both possibilities scared them.

* * *

**Soo... You like? I know, I know, I keep putting off the interaction with the other officers, but, to be honest, I have no idea how to engage in it, so, I'm following the whole "fake it till you make it thing". With faking it being not doing anything at all.**

** Drop me a line, let me know what you like and what you can't stand. I'll be sure and try and respond through this story here. **

** ALSO, I bet some of you thought that last little bit was the official chapter for today, didn't you? No, no, that's just a little something fun for me to do, I can almost promise you that if something like that should occur, it will never be the official chapter for the day. Pinky Swear.**

** Now, Chapter Nine is being written AS WE SPEAK (or, really, as I type), but, I'll need encouragement to go ahead and post it up. I say it like that, because, if I can't find too many people that want to see it today instead of tomorrow when it's done, then, I won't bother speeding up, because, an early chapter nine means an early chapter ten.**

** And, I don't mind working on Chappy numero ten, but, I see no point in pushing that when I could be working on something like editing my other stories, if no one is particularly interested in reading it. **

** So, no, I'm not withholding a chapter unless you review, though, I would love to hear what you guys have in mind. I promise Chapter Nine will be up tomorrow at the latest, but, with a little encouragement, it could be up today!**


	10. I'll Bring Joy to Him

**Chapter Nine: I'll Bring Joy to Him**

* * *

_"Murder is unique in that it abolishes the party it injures, so that society must take the place of the victim, and on his behalf demand atonement or grant forgiveness."_

__**- W. H. Auden**

* * *

"We're not going to be able to do this forever," Morgan said as they all say at the small Asian decorated table. JJ had decided that an outing as a team was officially in order, because, they didn't get to socialize that much while on the job. Hotch had allotted them an hour each for lunch, and, they decided just to take it out all together.

While JJ had tried to make it a rule that no one spoke about the case they were on, it wasn't working and it was all they could seem to talk about. Garcia and Rossi had provided the new bits of information they had been able to come across, and, the team was now pondering over what they could mean. After all, transgender kidnapping murderers? They weren't exactly easy to come by.

"What aren't we going to do for forever?" Garcia asked distractedly, trying to help Reid be able to pick up his Chinese food, sans the rubber band trick JJ had shown them. He was determined to do it on his own, despite whatever statistics he had been able to spout off about the number of people that could do it and why he should be able to do it also.

"We aren't going to be able to avoid them," He lowered his voice as two officers walked into the Chinese restaurant, not noticing the group in the back. "They know something is up, and, just think about it. What if they _are _one of the killers or they know who is. If we don't let them know what's happening-"

"They can't know everything," Hotch agreed, cutting him off. Derek had grown louder over the last few words he had said, and, people were beginning to look, though, the officers weren't. "But, they do need to know somethings. Derek's right, we can't risk them accidentally knowing too much because we didn't tell them anything at all."

Derek nodded, satisfied, and, went back to watching Penelope try and teach Reid a thing or two about eating food. It was actually quite humorous. He knew that besides himself, Reid was her best friend, and, it was nice watching them laugh over the simple things as she kept... Grabbing his hands... Putting them delicately around the chop sticks... Touching his arm while laughing... Touching his face every time he pouted...

Why was she touching him again?

He didn't miss the looks JJ were also shooting the couple. He wondered if it registered to her that Pen and Reid were quite available; Derek hadn't cemented his relationship with Pen just as JJ hadn't done that with hers and Reid. They were still quite available for each other and anyone else that may want to date them. After all, he hadn't missed the looks that one Mr. Kevin Lynch had been sending his girl when they were back at Quantico.

"No, no, babe, you want to do it, _this _way!"

"I am doing it that way! It's just not working!"

"Spencer Reid!"

"Penelope Garcia!"

The group smiled at the two and went back to talking about the case, though, Derek and JJ shared a few looks as they went back to eating their own food, rubber band trick and all.

"So, I think we should start looking in the town Garica and Rossi spotted right in the middle. It's actually Sacramento, all the murders, kidnappings and discoveries seem to center all around that one point." Emily said, picking up another bundle full of noodles on her stick and eating them expertly. With her multicultural background and Garcia's love for all things unique, they were the only two that could handle themselves well with the chopsticks with no help from any tricks.

Garcia paused, hearing her name. "Well, I do have new confirmation that it is the child of Barbara Towns that we heard in the background. When we get back to the base, I could show you, but, all it is is the man in the background. I pulled the focus away from her voice and was able to detect a feminine hit in his voice, and, he was saying 'Kevin! Shut up! I should have killed you when I did your mother'. Well, I think Kevin may have been her baby and they just chose not to call him Chris that way no one would get suspicious."

"Well," Rossi began, keeping his voice low. "These are, obviously, very organized murders. These people know what they're doing. Sure, maybe the actual murders are sketchy and show signs of hesitation, but, as far as hiding the bodies and leading the police to them, they seem to have it all under control."

"So, maybe they started out with easier things," Emily countered. "Maybe the first started out with animals and smaller prey, only, instead of perfecting the art of killing them, they perfected that of hiding them."

"Which would make sense," Hotch said agreeing with them. "Now, we have a case of classic narcissism."

"I wouldn't say classic," Reid said. He had long since given up the task of trying to eat with the chop sticks and had just used the fork Derek had gotten for them when they were first in line. He supposed he should have been a bit offended that no one seem to have faith in him, but, if Garcia wasn't helping and Emily was too busy making eyes at Hotch to be of any service, he figured he might as well just move on. "A classic would leave a mark, let you know it's him."

"But, that's what they're doing," Garcia argued. "The DNA, the calls to the police, et cetera, they're all mocking!"

"That's the thing," Reid interjected. "_Them. They. They're. _All plural. A classic narcissist would choose to work alone. They wouldn't be able to share the credit with anyone else."

"There's something more, and, we're just not seeing it," Emily said, a defeated air in her voice. "A murdering duo with the temperance of a narcissist? Narcissist also typically don't keep children. The most they'd have that they would need to take care of would be pets, and, even then, it'd be a very small one that's no trouble or a very big one that's... Empowering. Like a Rottweiler or something of the sort. But, not only do they have children, but, they take children. Which means they want these children around them."

"This does not make any sense." Morgan said simply.

Apparently he had spoken too loudly because everyone in the small restaurant looked over at them, and, they finally drew the attention of the officers. It turned out that there were four of them, the BAU agents noticed, as they walked towards them. Two must have already been there when they arrived and just not have said anything. Hotch wondered how much they could have heard.

* * *

**So..? This really is just a filler chapter that just goes into predicating what's gonna happen next. I do need to do some further character development and so that's why I didn't go into the officers right now.**

** And because I just don't want to have to deal with them, but, that's whatever.**

** The whole interaction will be Chapter Ten, and, then, I think, in Chapter Eleven, I'm going to go ahead and have the team make some type of discovery, or... Well, I don't know what.**

** I'm about to start on Chapter Ten, but, like I said, let me know how soon you want this chapter up and that'll determine how soon I'm about to get chapter ten.**


End file.
